Opinions: Your Eurovision 2011

My Take On Eurovision 2011 – On this page of “The Eurovision Times” you can read the assessments of the 2011 Eurovision entries by our contributors and readers. If you want your own opinion about the songs to appear here, just send them to eurovisiontimes@live.com A big thank you goes to everyone who has already submitted an article:

By Paschalis from Greece

Once again, like every March, esc-fans are busy trying to predict the winner, reading all kind of news in eurovision related websites and voting in polls most of the time. What a jolly period! :)
A first overall view of the year is that it’s a bit inferior compared to 2010 (in my opinion always) but still better than other bad years like 2008 and 2009. Once again, we have everything this year: ballads, pop, dance, schlager, rock, opera, african, even some rap. What makes this year so special is that it’s hard to predict the winner, since there aren’t obvious early favorites like Greece 2005, Serbia 2007, Russia 2008, Norway 2009, Germany 2010…

The favorites

Let’s take a look at the fan favorites this year. According to most polls, Estonia, France, Germany, Hungary, Sweden and UK seem to lead in fans’ preferences. But would any of those songs be a winner this year? My opinion is that France really has no chances to win (we had operatic songs in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 already and none of them even made the top 10) Hungary seems a nice dance song, but will it convince people and juries performed live? Or will it be a total mess like Finland 2009? Germany is very different to the winner “Satellite” of 2010, but will people eagerly vote for Lena again for a second year in a row? Sweden already seems like a favorite to win the televoting. A young, cute singer is likely to appeal to teenage girls (and boys too) as well as older people. With an instantly catchy chorus and a memorable beat (Boney M – Nightflight to Venus?) it’s likely to gather lots of points from all around Europe. I only wonder if he is able to deliver this live so that the juries are also convinced. Still, a top 5 result is guaranteed I think. UK now seems to have everything to win the jury vote. A very radio friendly song, a known band, another catchy chorus… So could UK win again for the first time after 1997? And as for Estonia… it really doesn’t convince me and I don’t see the big deal about it this year. I think it’s just an ok pop song, nothing special at all. But then again Iceland 2009 was nothing special either and managed to finish second.

The dark horses

Some other songs to watch out for are Azerbaijan, Denmark, Norway and Russia. Azerbaijan may not be a winner, but a top 10 result is guaranteed. Denmark sounds like a modern peace anthem with easy lyrics for everyone in Europe to understand, so it can earn lots of points just by this. Norway is something “original” to the contest and considering the popularity of african tunes lately I can also see points for it. Russia is in my opinion the worst song they’ve ever sent. It sounds like an entry for JESC, but come on, it’s Russia and the song is so awfully mainstream that it will gather some points from non-neighbors too.

The ones who will crash
Like every year, there are fan favorite songs that crash and burn in the contest. (see Hungary and Iceland 2005, Belgium 2006, Cyprus 2007, Sweden and Switzerland 2008, Spain and Finland 2009, Croatia and Slovakia 2010). So who will it be this year? I would bet on Hungary, Poland and even France. Don’t ask me why, I just have a feeling it will be this way, since I don’t think this kind of music goes anywhere.

The surprises
And of course there are the surprises every year, songs no one thought would do well, yet they did. Examples are Latvia 2005, Lithuania and Ukraine 2006, Hungary 2007, Azerbaijan and Bosnia 2008, Armenia 2009, Georgia and Ukraine 2010) Considering the juries have returned to the contest, at least 2 songs should do the surprise this year. My bets for 2011 are Georgia and Switzerland.

So it’s hard to predict a winner, who will do well, who will crash… or isn’t it? One thing’s for sure, ESC2011 will be a year full of surprises and it will be very exciting to watch the envelopes open and the points during the final night!

By ChocolateGun from Romania

“So, this year we’ve got 43 countries fighting for the big prize. I thought of creating a few categories and divide all the songs into them so maybe I can see which one of the songs really stand a chance.
Firstly, I decided to make a category for the ballads of the year. There are not so many, but still enough to make a decent contest: Austria, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Finland, France, Lithuania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine. From all these songs, I think France and Azerbaijan have the biggest chances. Why? France is impressive, they sent a memorable song which is really a contender, you can’t rule it out. It’s too good and Amaury’s voice is amazing. And Azerbaijan sent a memorable pop ballad, with cheesy lyrics and a nice rhythm so they’re definitely making it to the final. Plus, they’re Azerbaijan, they’re in the first semi which isn’t as hard as the second one and they are performing 18th. I don’t see any better recipe for getting a spot in the big final. In rest, San Marino have a nice song and Cyprus is good as well, but they’re not memorable and I’m afraid they will get lost among all those pop songs.
Talking about the pop song, here is the next category. It includes almost all the songs from this year. Here are the countries who sent pop songs: Armenia, Croatia, Estonia, F.Y.R. Macedonia, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Malta, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, UK.
Knowing that Poland and Norway are performing one after another, I’m afraid they will somehow cancel each other. I still think they have chances for the final, but not very high, I’m afraid. And the best one of these will clearly stand out and gather more votes. Also, Russia doesn’t need to worry about qualifying: even if their song isn’t very good, they are RUSSIA and they can send anyone (see Russia 2010) and get a good place in the end, maybe in the top 10. If Russia is going to get many points just for being Russia, UK will get points because of the huge popularity of those guys. Even Lena will vote for them and that says something. Plus, their entry is very nice, they sing very well and I’m considering Cardiff 2012 as a huge possibility. From all these pop songs, the ‘catchiest’ is Sweden. Even if the lyrics are not that great(“I will be popular….my body wants you girl”… oh really?!), the song is memorable, instant and it has a great spot in the semi so I think it’s a qualifier. In the same semi there is Estonia, another good pop act and with the great draw, Estonia will sure make it to the final. Also, Ireland has a good draw and I think there are crazy girls out there to vote for them. Who knows, if their show is impressive, they might sail into the final with no problems.
The next category contains ‘rock’ songs and a few rap. These songs come from these countries: Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Denmark, The Netherlands, Turkey. All these songs are at least a little bit good, I think all of these(except Bulgaria) will go into the final. Turkey and Georgia have the friendly neighbors, Greece ALWAYS makes it to the final, also Denmark…and the Ned have a good song this year so why not?
Next category contains nice songs which tend to be a little bit of ‘evergreens’ in my opinion. Like, songs you will remember even a few years after the ESC. These songs are from Belgium(a capella), Bosnia, Iceland, Italy, Serbia, Switzerland. Clearly, the best one out of these is Bosnia, with Dino Merlin. The guy is great on stage, the song creates a gorgeous atmosphere and I wanna sing along…what could be better? I am considering a Sarajevo 2012, lol. Also, Serbia has a good song this year, Nina is a great singer. Italy is nice too, but performing right after the impressive French entry might destroy their chances.
And the last category contains the ‘original’ songs of the year. I mean, songs you don’t hear day by day….These songs come from Albania, Belarus(I’ve never seen a song which goes “I love Belarus I love Belarus I love Belarus”), Germany, Moldova(are they singing or shouting?), Portugal. From all these, Germany clearly stands out: Lena is good on stage, her singing is not weak and she has a great song. I think this is a contender and with a lot of luck we might see a Berlin 2012. Also, seems like Portugal have a lot of fans, but the song isn’t that good and I don’t even think they deserve to be in the final with so many other good songs around theirs. Albania is really weird, but if she’s cool on stage she might qualify. Moldova and Belarus are contenders for the last place in the semi, lol. ”

I hope you guys didn’t get bored with my looong comment. I do not mean to offend anyone with this, I’m just showing my opinions on this amazing contest. With that being said, I cannot wait for the contest in May because right now I do not have a clear winner myself so I’m very curious.

More articles to be added!